Don't worry - it's not you!! Now that I'm starting to get into the groove of writing blogs, I'm finding that I enjoy writing about lots of different topics, not just home interiors and paint colors. This particular blog is about a bad customer experience that will probably haunt me for the rest of my days. This rainy spring afternoon seemed like the perfect time to share one of my not-so-great memories of The Foundary.
It all started with free Foundary goodie bags. When I had the store on Ashmun, twice each year we gave out goodie bags; Ladies Night and Downtown Christmas Open House. Sometimes we just handed them out, sometimes they cost a little something and sometimes they were free with a $20 purchase. But no matter how we dispersed them, the goodie bags were always a fantastic deal for our customers. I usually spent between $1000 and $1200 to prepare one hundred bags. And the whole point was to offer a small "thank you" to the people who supported my business. And most people appreciated the goodie bags. Most, but not all.
One morning I got an early phone call at The Foundary. The caller (who never identified themselves) said they had received a goodie bag from the store the previous day. This happened to be one of those times we were giving out free goodie bags with every $20 purchase. We had given out 100 bags filled with an assortment of items. This person wanted to let me know they were VERY displeased with the contents of their goodie bag. (That would be the free goodie bag). They thought I should have put different things in it, they didn't want the candy or food, and they were particularly upset about the bath bomb we included. Apparently, they mistook it for a treat and tried to eat it.
I will admit that I was totally caught off guard by this call. I was used to people telling me how much they enjoyed the goodie bags. I had never had anyone call to tell me how much they hated it. Or that they had tried to eat the soap. I was unprepared for this. And I was irritated. I've been in retail for many years, and I'm well versed in the principles of good customer service. But I'm afraid I failed miserably that morning. I did not apologize for the contents of the goodie bags or for the fact that the customer was not pleased. I did not offer a refund - how could I? It was a freebie. I noted that the bath bomb was well marked with the word "SOAP" and that it might have been prudent to read the label before attempting to eat it. (This did not go over particularly well.) And I suggested that perhaps since the person had no investment whatsoever in the bag, they might consider giving away the things they didn't want. Or throwing them away. I thought I offered a few excellent options.
As you might imagine, my lack of contrition was not well received. The person on the phone was even more angry when I refused to apologize. I said they were more than welcome to bring back whatever was left in the goodie bag, but I couldn't offer an exchange or a refund since they did not actually buy the bag in the first place. The caller stated they did not like my attitude, and that they would never shop in my store again. And they would tell EVERYONE how terrible my store was. Perhaps by coincidence, or perhaps not, soon after this incident my Facebook rating fell from a solid 5 stars to 4.5. Sigh.
For a long time the only way I could look at this incident was through the lens of it being my fault. What did I do wrong? Were the goodie bags not good enough? Should I have spent more on them? Should I have put fewer food items in them? Should I have apologized that morning? Should I have tried to find a way to make the situation right? Up until that point, planning for, filling and handing out the goodie bags was SO much fun for me! If you ask anyone who worked for me during those years they'll tell you how much time and effort we all put into creating those goodie bags. And we were really proud of them. Then I allowed one person to take that joy away. And I'm still not sure why I let that happen. We continued to hand out goodie bags after that, but it was never the same for me.
We all have to deal with challenging people in our lives. Over time, you just learn to cope because you're never going to change them. The caller that morning was most definitely not the first upset customer I had ever dealt with. The issue at hand wasn't really serious and no one had been harmed. In fact, there was absolutely nothing about that call that should have made a lasting impact on me. And yet, it did. Maybe because it felt mean spirited and unfair? Maybe because when you give someone a gift, you don't expect that they'll call to complain about it? Or maybe it just hurt my feelings.
These days I can mostly laugh about the entire incident. Seriously - who complains about a free goodie bag, gripes because there was too much food in the bag and then caps the whole conversation off by expressing anger because they tried to eat a bath bomb. And I was never worried that this person's efforts to bad-mouth The Foundary would ruin my business. I knew I had a solid customer base by that point, and the baseless complaints of one person would not have led to the demise of my store. I never did know for sure who the caller was. But I am almost 100% certain they were standing in line at The Foundary the next time we handed out goodie bags.
In retrospect, I know I could I have dealt with this much better than I did. I certainly shouldn't have been as upset as I was. And I know I shouldn't still be giving the matter enough space in my brain to write about it several years after the fact. But here we are!!
If there is any takeaway from all of this, I suppose it might be a reminder of how much our words can impact other people. And how complaining when you get something free just smacks of entitlement. And that when other people offer a gesture of kindness, accept it graciously even if it's not something you truly want. And maybe, most importantly, if you see the word "SOAP" on a wrapper, don't eat it.
Danna
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